Met a guy at the door that knew a thing or two about JWs. He gave us old publications to look up. I didn't write them down, but remembered one, looked it up, chalked it up as either a typo or old light. Don't remember the controversy, but it was something that was out of character for what JWs currently believed.
But there was one thing he said that stuck with me and I have no idea how he knew this or even where somebody would get such a stat. He said there's more JWs in mental institutions than any other religion. I started to look around at my fellow JWs at the Hall. Sure enough, there were some oddballs. Maybe not odd enough to be locked up, but many of these people just weren't right in the head. I came to believe that for many it wasn't the religion, it was the sense of family & friends they got from going to meetings because, quite probably, normal society didn't embrace them.
This isn't door-to-door, but as a kid at one district conventation, "apostates" had put fake watchtowers on the car's windshields. Apparently with info inside that contradicts JWs. I loved parody and wanted to see one, but there was an active cleanup task force out making sure they were all collected. I was told by my parents what they were and I couldn't have one. It just made me all the more curious. First off, what could they possibly say that'd contradict us? If we have the truth, then we should be able to debunk any false info. So why not have a look? We can research it and give them an answer back. Was always curious about what was in there and that led me to want to look at apostate literature to see why we couldn't stand up to it.
On the other side of the coin, I've played the householder. I live 1000 miles from where I was last known as a JW so nobody knows me here. When they come knocking, I don't tell them I was a JW. But knowing their arguments, I can argue with them and often do.
A good 10 years ago or so, I had a guy calling. He wanted to "study". I think I got him to actually sit down and read from the bible, not out of publications. He agreed the Q&A out of their publications was stupid. You're just reading back what you just read.
After he mentioned 607, I said "hang on" and checked a bunch of historical and biblical reference books I had and showed him that scholars believe in 586/587, not 607. And went on to show him how even the Bible doesn't support the JWs viewpoint. He agreed with me. He said 1914 is probably wrong. BUT, he still believed the general stuff was right (last days, armageddon, paradise, etc.).
After many sessions, visits became sporadic due to his work and eventually the visits stopped. I've inquired about him from subsequent JW visitors who said he no longer attends. Whether he disappeared due to convenience (for lack of a better word, laziness) or due to a change in beliefs, I don't know. I'd like to think I planted the seeds of doubt, but until I run into him again, I'll never know.
The last JWs, I came at from a purely atheist point of view. Prove to me there's a god and that the bible is that god's word. We were never going to come to terms. However, I told him a friend of mine was an ex-JW (mistake, IMO), and that he told me things about them. I told him my friend said they were part of the UN. He said he couldn't believe that and he'd like to see the proof. At the next visit, he told me we'd never change each other's opinions and we needed to end the conversation. I showed him the UN printouts (Guardian article, printed letters from the UN, etc.). He looked it over with interest, but wouldn't take it with him. Who knows what'll happen?